sneak peek: samantha hahn + david moldawer

Illustrator and pattern designer Samantha Hahn lives with her husband, David Moldawer, and two-year-old son, Henry, in this two-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s East Side. This is not just any apartment: It’s the apartment that belonged to David’s grandparents in the early ’60s. When David and his sister were born, his parents moved into the building. When his grandparents passed away, Samantha and David moved in. Henry is named for his great-grandfather, so it’s particularly special to be in the apartment where his namesake lived. Thanks, Samantha, David & Henry! — Amy Azzarito

Image above: I love our bedroom. It’s so peaceful with Pumice gray walls; the paint is from Restoration Hardware. My desk and drawing table are in the bedroom as well, but when I’m not in work mode, we love cuddling up in that cozy bed to watch movies and read books by the light of those IKEA sconces. Every morning when our son Henry wakes up (it’s still dark), we take him in there for a little snuggle to start the day off right. The picture above our bed is a piece by Christopher David Ryan. The bed is from Charles P. Rogers. My husband is 6′ 3″ and was forced to sleep in my antique brass bed with a footboard for 7 years. When we moved from Brooklyn, we decided to upgrade to this cherry platform bed with no foot board to cramp his feet. The duvet cover is from West Elm.

Image above: I love this little corner of the living room. There’s an airy photo by photographer Nick Meek of a snowy mountain range with some sort of magenta mist at its base. Below that, there’s a piece by Christopher David Ryan of a couple holding hands looking off into the distance. Perhaps they’re looking at the mountain? The little yellow screenprinted cushion is from Lena Corwin, but when we moved and got this sofa, I decided to have it tailored down from a square to a rectangle. I got that little Haywood-Wakefield end table on eBay to stack our favorite art and photo books on top for easy perusal. The chair is Bertoia from the Brooklyn Flea. We have that faux sheep thing from IKEA to make it more comfy/cozy to sit on. The wall color is Atmosphere Blue from Restoration Hardware.

See more of Samantha’s New York City apartment after the jump . . .

Image above: The dining area holds so many of our sentimental pieces. The dining table belonged to my parents and was the one we used growing up. It happens to be parquet like our floors. The chairs are mid-century from RePop. The big pine cabinet also belonged to my parents from well before I was born. The little dresser belonged to Dave’s mom growing up, and the globe on top of it was his grandfather’s. We looked it up to see if we could figure out when it was from and found some interesting facts online about how to tell the era of your globe. This one is from the ’30s. The blue glass pendant light is from Niche Modern. There are some black and white photos in the hallway of my mom on her elopement day, my grandmother at age 16 on the beach and Dave’s grandfather, whose name we took for our son and whose apartment we live in. The wall color is Silver Sage from Restoration Hardware.

Image above: This angle is the dining area leading in to our bedroom and the living room. The painting is one I did of my best friend. The hexagonal bowl is from Mohawk General Store.

Image above: The living room is one of my favorite places in our home. It’s a place to just chill out, entertain friends and often chow down on take out. We had oak cut and planed for the coffee table, and then we removed the urethane on it and put the hairpin legs on from hairpinlegs.com. The bright yellow chair is Knoll from RePop. I used two antique crates as an end table. My parents used to use them to hold wood for the fireplace. Now they’re stacked to make a little bookcase. The sofa is a Blu Dot sleeper from Century House. We love that my mom can spend the night and friends can sleep over if they’re in from out of town. The striped rug is from Rugs USA. The Danish modern chair is from Brooklyn Flea, and I had it reupholstered with one of my designs, printed up by Spoonflower. The little white reading light is from Y Lighting.

Image above: My dad recently passed away, and I’m still reeling from the loss. Putting up one of his gold records from his music business days makes me think of him so proudly. The blue screenprinted cushions are from Proud Mary. (Editor’s note: See Sneak Peek: Harper of Proud Mary and Molly of Proud Mary.) The gold bird screenprint is from Sanna Annukka. (Editor’s note: See Sneak Peak: Sanna Annukka.) I found the mirror on the street in Brooklyn where we moved from and painted it crisp white. The little ship peeking out from the counter in the corner belonged to Dave’s grandpa.

Image above: This is Dave’s work area accompanied by an old Herman Miller lab chair I used to use at my drawing table until Dave convinced me to go more ergonomic. Still, I love that chair. It’s good for extra seating when guests come over. The photo is one I took of Henry with a painted-on mustache his first summer. The piece above it is a print of a painting by my friend Kelly Lynn Jones. The blue striped silkscreen is by another friend, Dana McClure. The popsicle photo is by a dear pal, Kate Miss, and the piece below it is something I did for my solo show at Gallery Hanahou, “A Thousand Ships,” earlier this fall.

Image above: This is my drawing table. I try to keep it neat, but I use concentrated inks and watercolors, so there are often splatters around. I sometimes tack up inspiring images, paintings by Henry or photos of people I love on the wall in front of where I sit.

Image above: This is baby Henry’s room. The silkscreen prints were given to us at our baby shower from friends Anna and Sean of Sub-Studio. The big constellations silkscreen was done by an artist I love, Claire Nereim. Henry has lots of books, blocks and some nice toys. The little white piano is a Schoenhut. The striped bag we use for toys is from the Container Store. The wall color is Latte, also from Restoration Hardware. I’m really obsessed with their paints. The colors are really velvety with a dusty, soft quality.

this home combines so many things that I love! Sentimental pieces and edited collections with inspiring modern pieces. Not to mention all the mid-century chairs and dressers!! I’m gushing. This home is perfect :)

Love your apartment! The colors are so soothing, but there are still bright pops of color on the chairs and in the art. Thank you for sharing!
(And D*S, I love that there are links to the other artists’ homes.)

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